The World of Kanako | Blu-ray & DVD (Drafthouse Films)
RELEASE DATE: February 2, 2016
Drafthouse Films presents the Blu-ray & DVD for Tetsuya Nakashima’s The World of Kanako(read our review), starring Koji Yakusho, Nana Komatsu and Satoshi Tsumabuki.
The World of Kanako is a nonstop visual and emotional assault to the senses as it follows troubled ex-detective Akikazu on the hunt for his missing teenage daughter, Kanako. What he discovers is an unsettling web of depravity surrounding both Kanako and himself. | Trailer.
If you’re looking for singin’ and dancin,’ look elsewhere… but if you’re looking for beatin’ and killin’, don’t miss Gangs of Wasseypur, an Indian-made crime saga written and directed by Anurag Kashyap (Satya), who is considered the “Poster Boy” of Bollywood’s new wave of cinema.
This controversial two-part film, which is being described as India’s answer to The Godfather, follows a bloody feud between two families that begins in the early 1940s and lasts until the mid-1990s.
Netflix recently announced that a special edited version of Gangs of Wasseypur will stream as an eight-part series the first week of December. Until then, don’t miss the trailer.
AKA: Hard Drive
Director: Brian Trenchard-Smith
Cast: John Cusack, Thomas Jane, Zoe Ventoura, Christopher Morris, Yesse Spence, Damien Garvey
Running Time: 96 min.
By Paul Bramhall
The name Brian Trenchard-Smith should be familiar to anyone who’s a fan of Hong Kong movies, as the British born director was the man behind the 1975 Jimmy Wang Yu vehicle The Man from Hong Kong. A resident of Australia since his late teens, in the 70’s and 80’s Trenchard-Smith directed a string of low budget cult classics in the land down under. From the early Nicole Kidman flick BMX Bandits, to schlocky horror like Dead End Drive-In, to martial arts actioners Strike of the Panther and its sequel – it’s fair to say he was a pioneer in the field of Ozploitation. In the 2008 documentary Not Quite Hollywood: The Wild, Untold Story of Ozploitation!, Quentin Tarantino even goes so far as to say Trenchard-Smith is one of his favorite directors, which is high praise indeed.
Since then his output has maintained its low budget charm, but has arguably been mostly forgettable. While the 90’s saw him take on the likes of Leprechaun 3 and Leprechaun 4: In Space, the turn of the millennium has seen him working almost exclusively in the DTV field. In many ways his most recent efforts hark back to the days when Australian filmmakers would invite Hollywood stars down under, knowing their names would help sell the movie, such as the Jamie Lee Curtis starring Road Games from 1981. However while that movie was a suspenseful Hitchcock-esque thriller, the likes of the Cuba Gooding Jr. flick Absolute Deception is hardly held in quite the same high regard.
Made a year after Absolute Deception, Drive Hard sees Trenchard-Smith keep the same filming location of the Gold Coast in Australia (which is also were the Jackie Chan movie First Strike was filmed), and exchanges Gooding Jr. for the double whammy of John Cusack and Thomas Jane. Like Gooding Jr., the offers haven’t exactly being pouring in for either star, with Cusack mostly relegated to starring in direct to video action movies like The Prince, made the same year, and Jane, the one time Punisher, limited to mostly supporting roles. Drive Hard is pitched as a getaway chase movie, and with Cusack’s vaping bank robber taking Jane’s former race car driver cum driving instructor hostage, the simple plot and small budget seem perfectly tailored to Trenchard-Smith’s method of filmmaking.
Unfortunately, the small budget becomes brazenly apparent from almost the word go. Cusack’s bank robbery is painfully dull, and consists of them pulling up outside a building, which then cuts to a close-up shot of a safe that anyone can buy in your nearest hardware store. Cue generic alarm sound effect, and what appears to be stock footage from a corporate training video of peoples legs briskly walking towards camera, and the heist is complete! Stock footage also shows up in other places, with most of the Gold Coast shots clearly lifted from a local tourism video. In terms of production values, things don’t get any better, such as when proceedings move to a police station, you know it’s the captains office because his name appears to have been printed on a piece of A3 paper and stuck to the door.
Throw in visible bullet hole stickers stuck onto car windows, stunt equipment used to flip a car left in clear sight, a car being right hand drive in one scene and left hand drive in the next, and cars used in stunts being completely different models than what they’re supposed to be, it gives some idea of the level of detail paid to the filming process. Understandably, as an exciting chase movie, Drive Hard fails miserably. On top of the technical blunders, none of the actual chasing is particularly fast, apart from the aforementioned flip there’s not a single car crash in sight, and the sense of danger is non-existent.
There is a saving grace though, and it comes in the form of the chemistry shared between Cusack and Jane. The script gets off to a rocky start, which was penned by Trenchard-Smith himself and Brigitte Jean Allen, subjecting us to not one but two unfunny seatbelt jokes within the first 30 minutes. However it soon hits its stride, with the relationship between kidnapper and kidnappee hitting some worthy comedic notes. In one particular meta-scene, Cusack insists that Jane calls the major crimes squad, and tells them he’s being forced to be a getaway driver for the bank robbery. After two unconvincing attempts to explain the situation, Cusack grabs the phone off him and yells, “You suck as an actor!” It may be a cheap laugh, but it works.
The movie is also filled out by a host of entertaining characters that the pair meet along the way, all played by local Australian talent. From a foul mouthed psychotic grandma, to a shotgun wielding gas station manager, to a rough and ready biker gang, all have a go at capturing the fugitives with amusing results. It’s during these scenes that the movie works best, as it almost becomes a fish out of water story, with the pair of Americans dealing with the hazards of the distinctly Australian locals. The colorful language of the various characters is definitely not for the easily offended, and harkens back to an era of Australian cinema that was itself very much rough and ready, producing similarly low budget chase movies such as Mad Max and alike.
Whenever the attention turns back to the main plot though, the tone becomes uninteresting and dull. Cusack’s thief has a generic but decent enough back story as to how he got to the situation he’s in today, but as there obviously wasn’t enough budget to film it as a flashback scene, he simply tells it to Jane via dialogue while sitting in the passenger seat. Film is a visual medium, and it’s this type of scene that only serves to draw attention to its lack of budget. It’s a recurring issue throughout the movie, in that whenever the script wants to expand the scope of the story, it falters due to not being able to stray too far away from Cusack and Jane driving around in their getaway car.
There’s also the issue of a completely throwaway side story concerning a couple of corrupt cops, played by Damien Garvey and Andrew Buchanan, who were assigned to the theft case, but get thrown off it when a special unit steps in. The agents from the special unit are played by Zoe Ventoura and Jason Wilder, however not only do any of the four characters never get anywhere close to capturing Cusack and Jane, they also exit the movie all together in a bizarre scene that comes out of nowhere. It almost seems like they were originally planned to be a major part of the plot, but somewhere along the way it was decided that the finale wouldn’t involve them at all, so the filmmakers had to somehow find a way to write them out of the picture before it gets to the climax.
Basically their roles in the movie serve nothing more than to pad out the short 90 minute run time, which is ultimately what Drive Hard is to the careers of Cusack and Jane, a production to pad out their filmographies until something better comes along. Trenchard-Smith might have blown it all sky high in the past, but at the moment, Drive Hard marks an unfortunate low.
Ghost Warrior & The House Where Evil Dwells | Blu-ray (Shout! Factory)
RELEASE DATE: January 5, 2016
Ready for some obscure samurai action? Shout! Factory presents the Blu-ray Double Feature for 1982’s The House Where Evil Dwells and 1984’s Ghost Warrior (aka Swordkill).
In The House Where Evil Dwells, an ancient Japanese curse turns a couple’s lives (Edward Albert and Susan George) into a nightmare of lust and revenge! This release features a new high-definition transfer and trailer.
In Ghost Warrior, a deep-frozen 400-year-old samurai (Kamen Rider’s Hiroshi Fujioka) is shipped to Los Angeles, where he comes back to life (almost sounds like Donnie Yen’s Iceman, eh?). Special features include a trailer… whoop dee doo.
AKA: The Colony
Director: Tsui Hark
Cast: Jean-Claude Van Damme, Dennis Rodman, Paul Freeman, Mickey Rourke, Hung Yan Yan, Natacha Lindinger, Valéria Cavalli, Jay Benedict, Asher Tzarfati
Running Time: 93 min.
By Zach Nix
International action star Jean-Claude Van Damme (Pound of Flesh) was on a cinematic roll through the late 80s and into the mid 90s. Although few of his films were ever as good or as successful as the likes of Arnold Schwarzenegger or Sylvester Stallone, almost every one of Van Damme’s films were commercially successful. Unfortunately, Van Damme’s hot streak came to an end in the late 90s with two of his most commercially disappointing films, Double Team and Knock Off. These films signaled the end of Van Damme’s theatrical career due to their inept plots and poor box office receipts. Van Damme followed up said films with even more disappointing efforts such as Universal Soldier: The Return and his first entries into the direct to video/limited theatrical market, Legionnaire and Desert Heat.
Even though Double Team started Van Damme’s slippery slope away from mainstream success, the film is more entertaining than most of his successful theatrical efforts. Directed by Hong Kong filmmaker Tsui Hark (The Taking of Tiger Mountain), Double Team is a highly stylized, although immensely inept, actioner that needs to be rediscovered by action fans for its awesome action sequences and utter insanity. It is arguably the wildest entry in Van Damme’s filmography and an undiscovered cult classic to boot.
The biggest hurdle with tackling Double Team is deciphering its plot because it is nearly impossible to recall said plot or even understand it while watching the film. Hark immediately drops the viewer into the life of government anti-terrorist agent Jack Quinn (Van Damme) as he retrieves stolen plutonium in an extended action sequence that also doubles as the film’s credits. As to who decided it was a good idea to lay credits over an action sequence is beyond me.
Anyways, the film gets into the thick of things once Quinn goes after terrorist Stavros (Mickey Rourke) who is also apparently his nemesis. When Quinn and his men track down Stavros and his family to a theme park, a shootout engages and Stavros’ son is caught in the crossfire. Unfortunately, Quinn fails to capture Stavros and is sent to a prison island for failed agents who are too valuable to kill. Therefore, Quinn must make his way off of the “inescapable” island and save his wife Kathryn from Stavros’ vengeance. Oh, and an arms dealer played by basketball player Dennis Rodman somehow fits into all of this.
Wow, where to begin with this one? The plot, or what resembles a plot, is all over the place and absolutely bonkers. Double Team tries to combine three films of entertainment into one but to no avail. It’s as if Hark and the screenwriters couldn’t decide on a revenge film, a prison escape film, or a buddy film, and decided to blend all of them together and call it Double Team. Even though the film’s poster, trailer, and title advertise it as a buddy picture between Van Damme and Dennis Rodman, Double Team is anything but. It is as if Hark crafted a ‘versus film’ between Van Damme and Rourke, and than decided to tack on a buddy element at the last minute and wedge it into the plot however possible.
Van Damme and Dennis Rodman are truly the most mismatched buddy pairing of all time. Even though nobody asked for a team up of ‘The Muscles from Brussels’ and ‘The Worm,’ Double Team delivers exactly that and with no chemistry to boot. While Van Damme does a fine job, as he is always on point no matter how bad the film, Rodman proves that he should never act thanks to a bevy of awful basketball puns. Rodman is equally as bad an actor as other fellow basketball players turned actors Michael Jordan and Shaquille O’ Neal, but he is at least far more fascinating thanks to his ridiculous ever changing hair color and wild outfits. Rodman’s arms dealer character is truly the most fascinating element of the film, as his character serves the plot in no way, shape, or form. He joins up with Van Damme’s character to help him save his wife and child simply because “he likes danger.” Regardless, Rodman’s presence adds to the film’s bizarre charm, as well as Hark’s knack for automated dialog replacement (ADR).
Not since Steven Seagal’s On Deadly Ground has an action film featured so much dialog from characters completely off screen. The amount of ADR in this film is absolutely baffling, especially during Rodman and Rourke’s dialog scenes. They typically have their back to the camera, are far away within the shot, or are nowhere in sight, and yet they sound as if they were standing right next to you. This large amount of ADR is due to Hark’s fast paced shooting style that results in lots of voice dubbing during the post-production process. Still, the insane amount of ADR adds to Double Team’s cult-like attraction.
Hark, a Hong Kong filmmaker, brings his flair for over the top theatrics to the film and crafts numerous excellent action sequences. Even though Double Team may be boring at times, Hark blesses the viewer with an action sequence every fifteen or so minutes to help get them through the film’s thankfully short run time. All of Hong Kong’s flair for over the top action is here: characters leap through windows while firing guns, launch motorcycles and cars through explosions, and perform flips and kicks while firing weapons. Any action fan would be cheating them selves to ignore Double Team based purely upon its immensely entertaining action sequences. Unfortunately, the film also features a large assortment of crazy Dutch angles and occasionally awful framing that prevents some of its action sequences from even being visually legible. Regardless, these odd creative decisions, coupled with the film’s amazing action sequences, help make Double Team that much more entertaining and fun to experience.
Double Team is a mess, but an oddly fascinating and extremely entertaining mess if there ever was one. Regardless of the film’s failure at the box office and the critical backlash it received in 1997, few Van Damme films, and action films in general, are as entertaining and fascinating to watch as Double Team. The film presents a cartoon-like world of changing hair-dos, bonkers action sequences, and crazy characters that help make it one of cinema’s greatest undiscovered cult flicks. I’d much rather watch an energetic mess of a film like Double Team than sleep my way through dull but commercially successful Van Damme efforts like Death Warrant, Nowhere to Run, or Timecop any day.
Director: Shinji Higuchi
Writer: Yusuke Watanabe, Tomohiro Machiyama
Based on Manga by Hajime Isayama
Cast: Haruma Miura, Hiroki Hasegawa, Kiko Mizuhara, Kanata Hongo, Takahiro Miura, Nanami Sakuraba, Satoru Matsuo, Satomi Ishihara, Pierre Taki, Jun Kunimura, Rina Takeda, Shu Watanabe, Ayame Misaki
Running Time: 98 min.
By Paul Bramhall
Attack on Titan was a production which had the odds stacked against it from the start. Putting aside the fact that it’s a Japanese mainstream blockbuster, which in itself is normally an indication of a movie destined to be devoid of any inspiration or creativity, in this case there were a whole host of other factors working against it. Attack on Titan is adapted from a sprawling manga series, one which would be impossible to do justice to even across two installments. There’d already been a successful anime series based on the manga, which in itself spawned an animated movie. Throw in countless spin-offs in various other formats, topped off with the fact that both the original manga and anime have won various awards, and it inevitably begs the question – why do the tale an injustice by turning it into a live action movie, destined to be a pale reflection of the source material?
As if to silence the many voices of discontent, it was announced early on that director Tetsuya Nakashima would be helming the adaptation. Nakashima is the man behind some of Japan’s best output in recent years, with genre bending efforts like Confessions and The World of Kanako, so to see what he’d do with Attack on Titan was an exciting prospect. Then, one year after the movie was announced, in December 2012 Toho released a statement advising Nakashima had left the production due to creative differences. Attack on Titan lay idle for a whole year, then at the end of 2013 it was announced that Shinji Higuchi would be the new director. So from the director of Kamikaze Girls and Memories of Matsuko, to the director of The Sinking of Japan and Hidden Fortress: The Last Princess. It was the equivalent of being told you’re going to get a steak, and then being served with a tin of Spam.
Toho got themselves a two-for-one with Higuchi though, as he’s also one of the top special effects directors in Japan, which for a tale such as this one, would come in very useful. I should put the disclaimer out there at this point that I’ve neither read the manga nor seen any of the anime episodes. I was aware of Attack on Titan, having been a resident of Japan at the time when the manga was first released in 2009, its popularity was hard to get away from. The story revolves around how humanity has been forced to live in cities, surrounded by enormous towering walls, built to keep out gigantic humanoid creatures that mercilessly devour humans, seemingly with no rhyme or reason. The image of a skinless Titan, resembling one of those anatomy models you find in a biology classroom, towering over one of the cities walls, is easily one of the most enduring of the series.
For those who want to read a review that draws comparisons with the source material though, this isn’t it. Instead, I’m just a guy who’d like for once to be able to find a mainstream Japanese movie which I can enjoy. One that hasn’t been watered down so it’s safe to be shown on TV a few months later, thanks to being backed by production companies that own the TV channels. One that isn’t bogged down by endless unnecessary exposition to explain every last detail of what’s going on, because the traditionally minded producers demanded it be that way. Sadly, ten minutes into Attack on Titan, I realized this probably wasn’t going to be that movie. We’re treated to scenes of the saccharine relationship between 3 friends played by Haruma Miura, Kanata Hongo, and Kiko Mizuhara, as they wistfully talk about what could be beyond the wall, and banter over an incredibly out of place accordion soundtrack.
But then, everything changes. At just 10 minutes in, Higuchi seems to realize that nobody cares about any of this, give us Titans! So he does, with the impressive entrance of a towering skinless Titan that starts hammering on the walls with a deafening roar, kicking in a part of the wall that allows a group of zombie like Titans to enter the city. This cues off a 15 minute sequence that sees the cities inhabitants awash with panic, as they attempt to escape almost certain death in the jaws of the towering creatures. Higuchi seems to have embraced the fact that it would be impossible to fit in all the themes that the source material contains, which range from militarism to disenchanted youth, and instead opts for a straight up tale of giant zombies trying to eat people. Even not being overly familiar with the manga, there’s little doubt that this will enrage fans who were hoping for a close knit adaptation, but for everyone else, there’s a lot of fun to be had.
The Titans themselves look fantastic, a mix of prosthetics, CGI, and practical effects, the latter of which the king of splatter himself, Yoshihiro Nishimura, worked on. Their slow moving walk and eerily vacant smiles, mixed with their off-grey color and naked sexless bodies, make them a genuine source of horror. What’s more, and is something that came as a big surprise, is the decision to not skimp on the blood. Humans are bitten in half with blood splattering everywhere, limbs are sliced off, and arrows are fired into eye balls. Higuchi’s experience in special effects really pays off, as it all looks great, and it genuinely feels like the characters are in the same shot as the Titans. It’s refreshing to see such seamless FX work on a production such as this one.
In many ways Attack on Titan seems to be influenced by a number of Hollywood movies that came out around the same time. The wall around the city feels reminiscent of the surroundings found in The Maze Runner, and the mission that’s launched to drive from one city to the next feels tonally similar to the plot in Mad Max: Fury Road. Not to mention the famous Titan slayer general, who seems to owe more than a few nods to Emily Blunt’s character in Edge of Tomorrow. Overall though, the movie that most springs to mind when watching Attack on Titan is Paul Verhoeven’s Starship Troopers, just swap bugs for Titans. It has that same pulpy feel to it, and while I’m sure it’s a feel that Higuchi wasn’t intentionally going for, it’s what he’s been left with. Just like in Starship Troopers, every character is a stereotype, from the reluctant hero to the world weary war veteran, but when you have a cast which includes the likes of Jun Kunimura and Rina Takeda, that’s just fine.
Attack on Titan throws an impressive number of standout scenes into its compact 99 minute runtime. From an exciting night time attack by a baby Titan, to a romantic conversation between 2 characters being interrupted in a way which quickly dashes any hopes of it continuing, to a hilarious bromance scene that takes place in the mouth of a Titan! What makes these scenes so great, is that I’m sure Higuchi filmed them all with 100% sincerity, fully intending the audience to be immersed. But when a couple of guys are passionately yelling at each other in the mouth of a giant creature trying to eat them, there’s only so much you can take seriously. This isn’t to say Higuchi has made a masterpiece of unintentional hilarity or anything along those lines, just that there are some scenes which are entertaining in ways that perhaps weren’t originally intended to be.
The events of the first part of Attack on Titan culminate in a fantastic kaiju vs. kaiju showdown, which has heads being smashed through whole buildings, and even a few flying kicks thrown in for good measure. All in all, Higuchi’s adaptation will be one which severely divides the audience. For those hoping to see the more high brow concepts and themes explored in the manga, it’s safe to say that there’s nothing to see here. For those who’d like to see a tale which combines action, horror, and even a healthy dose of mystery (we need to come back for Part 2 right?), then this should more than satisfy. Attack on Titan gives us liberal helpings of Titan vs. human action, and much like watching a slasher movie, half the fun comes from guessing who’s going to be devoured next. For fans of the manga who see my below score, it’s probably a safe bet they’re hoping it’ll be me.
Quentin Tarantino’s 8th film, The Hateful 8, is an upcoming western flick that revolves around Bounty hunters who seek shelter from a raging blizzard and get caught up in a plot of betrayal and deception.
The Hateful 8 was shot using Panavision anamorphic lenses with an ultra wide aspect ratio that was used on classic films like Ben-Hur (1959) and It’s a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World (1963).
The Hateful 8 stars Samuel L. Jackson, Kurt Russell, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Walton Goggins, Channing Tatum, Demián Bichir, Tim Roth, Michael Madsen, Bruce Dern, James Remar, Amber Tamblyn, Demian Bichir and Zoe Bell. Legendary composer, Ennio Morricone (Fistful of Dollars), will be providing an all-new original soundtrack for the film.
BREAKING NEWS: Deadline reports that Quentin Tarantino’s The Hateful Eight will move up by a week the wide release of its 35mm and digital print versions. The film will open wide on New Year’s Day, instead of on January 8 as originally planned. The “Roadshow” version of the period film will go on as planned with 100 70mm prints in theaters around the country. That part of the program begins Christmas Day.
Director: Ricky Lau
Writer: Foh Ging-Yiu
Producer: Shum Wai Chung Wai-Shing
Cast: Yuen Biao, Zhang Feng-Yi, Roi Vinzon, Jessica Hester, Jerry Lamb Hiu-Fung, Karen Timbol, Michael Lam Wai-Leung, Wu Ma, Chung Fat, Levy Ignacio, Ricky Lau, Shum Wai
Running Time: N/A
By Paul Bramhall
During the 90’s, it was considered an unspoken rule that the Philippines was the place were the careers of Hong Kong action stars go to die. Philip Ko Fei, Cynthia Khan, and Yukari Oshima all made several movies there, with Yukari Oshima even going so far as to adopt a new Filipino stage name – Cynthia Luster. Few who made a movie in the Philippines ever made it back to Hong Kong to recapture their former glory, with perhaps the exception of Donnie Yen, who after making High Voltage in 1994, went on to become the most bankable action star in China. That’s some turnaround. Yuen Biao wasn’t quite so lucky, and Hunted Hunter could in many ways be considered the last movie that cast him as the headlining star, and yes it’s made in the Philippines.
At the helm is director Ricky Lau, here teaming up with Biao for a second time, having previously made Mr. Vampire 2 together 12 years prior. Lau directed all of the Mr. Vampire movies, along with several other supernatural themed kung fu flicks, such as Where’s Officer Tuba?, Encounters of the Spooky Kind 2, and Ghost Punting, all of which starred Sammo Hung. Much like Biao, a look at Lau’s filmography post-1997 shows hardly any titles of note, a sign of both their careers being on a downward spiral at the time.
It’s worth mentioning that Biao himself had already worked in the Philippines at this point, having made Tough Beauty and the Sloppy Slop (alongside the previously mentioned Cynthia Khan) a couple of years earlier. However Hunted Hunter seems to be an even lower budget production, with the look and feel being the very definition of ‘cheap’. The language issues don’t help, with the audio transitioning awkwardly between Mandarin (note: the original Chinese audio is Cantonese, however the only DVD release is Mandarin only) and heavily accented Filipino English. If you thought the gwai lo performances found in many an 80’s Hong Kong movie were bad, what’s on display here makes them look almost Oscar worthy in comparison.
The plot itself is essentially a rehash of The Fugitive, with Biao playing the head of security for a corporate building (which I guess makes him a hunter?) that discovers the murdered body of a female office worker. After the murderer escapes, leaving Biao as the only person in the building, he’s found guilty of murder and sentenced to death. Cue the entrance of a pair of Filipino cops, played by locally popular Filipino action star Roi Vinzon, and an incredibly annoying Karen Timbol. Vinzon and Timbol are clearly speaking English, but they bizarrely seem to have been over dubbed in heavily accented Chinese English.
Things get stranger once the action moves to Hong Kong, where they’re accompanied by a translator, but then without any explanation begin speaking perfect Chinese. There’s logic in there somewhere, as it becomes clear that the person dubbing them in English, is now the same person dubbing them in Chinese. It’s amazing that the one piece of coherency the filmmakers seemed to pay any attention to was the voices of the two Filipino actors. Most humorously though, is that the move back to Hong Kong is quite clearly just Chinatown in Manila. Even for a viewer who has never been to Hong Kong or Manila, I somehow doubt many people would mistake the filming locations for Hong Kong, but it’s a commendable attempt at some globe trotting.
Really though, with almost any Yuen Biao movie, we’re checking in for the action. Hunted Hunter has it, although the quality of it varies greatly, most of which I’d hesitate to add is no fault of Biao’s himself, nor choreographer Yuen Bo. The plot moves along quickly, and a little over 10 minutes in Biao launches an exciting escape attempt from prison, while being pursued by several guards. It’s surprisingly violent, with Biao at one point wielding a police baton in each hand and putting the beat down on one of the guards, as well as unleashing with a shotgun.
However a number of his other action sequences are frustratingly filmed using the step-printing technique that was so popular in the mid-90’s. For those unfamiliar, it’s a technique which basically makes the image move in a kind of blurred semi-slow motion. In short, not the best technique for filming action. Mid-way through Biao has a chase sequence up against multiple attackers in a shopping mall, that contains a great stunt in which he literally jumps from one floor of the mall to the other. Later on he also faces off one-on-one against a knife wielding Michael Lam, however both of these sequences are filmed using the technique, which seriously impairs the impact and sense of movement the action should deliver.
What’s more frustrating is that at one point Roi Vinzon storms into a drug lab, and single handedly throws down against the melee of workers inside – and it’s filmed perfectly, with some nice angles to capture the impact. So the internationally unknown Filipino star has his fight scene competently filmed, but one of the greatest physical talents to ever grace the screen has his action obscured by blurred frame rates. It’s not all bad though, despite being shot at night there’s a great stunt that sees Biao jump out of a 5th floor window, and there’s a rooftop chase sequence which is filmed well, despite the landing mats being in plain view in a couple of shots. Vinzon and Biao also get a chance to have a one on one fight, which is free of any slow motion, and it contains some good impacts.
Outside of the action, there’s some notable Hong Kong talent surrounding Biao. Wu Ma shows up as a pony tail sporting bad guy (perhaps inspired by Vinzon, who also sports one), and Jessica Suen plays Biao’s estranged wife who does her best to help him out. Zhang Feng Yi plays the HK cop on Biao’s trail in ‘Hong Kong’, and Chung Fat turns up as one of Ma’s henchmen. The bad guys in Hunted Hunter definitely earn their villain status, as there’s a couple of scenes when things get particularly nasty. One scene has Michael Lam beating the living daylights out of Jessica Suen, which culminates in him pushing a needle down one of her finger nails, and another scene has Biao having a live drill being pushed into his mouth.
Thankfully both Biao and Suen survive their respective ordeals, and Hunted Hunter culminates in what’s ultimately an entertaining 15 minute finale. Most of it consists of what can only be classed as an equally epic and hilarious shootout. The cops storm the ship were the bad guys are hiding out, and unleash a never ending stream of bullets, into an endlessly regenerating stream of identically suited lackeys. It’s completely goofy, however the kinetic energy of it makes the complete lack of logic behind it forgivable. At the same time Biao takes on both Chung Fat and Levy Ignacio, before the fight segues into a 2 on 2 once Vinzon joins in, with Biao left to take on Ignaco and Vinzon against Fat. The fight is thankfully free of any camera trickery, and contains plenty of collateral damage in the form of broken tables and boxes. It’s a worthy enough final showdown, although not one that anybody is likely to mistake for Biao’s best work.
In the same year as Hunted Hunter Biao would also star as a villain in the Shaw Brothers movie Hero, a role which he’s fondly remembered for. Put side by side, the 2 movies look like they’re from completely different era’s, and while both have Biao showing that physically he still had it, increasingly there seemed to be a shortage of movies that could be tailored to show them off. On the bright side, with a recent resurgence in the Filipino film industry, it’s no longer considered to be the place were HK action stars go when the offers have dried up locally, it’s just a shame that the same resurgence can’t be applied to Biao’s career.
Criterion Collection presents Nagisa Oshima’s Death by Hanging on Blu-ray and DVD!
Genius provocateur Nagisa Oshima (In the Realm of the Senses), an influential figure in the Japanese New Wave of the 1960s, made one of his most startling political statements with the compelling pitch-black satire Death by Hanging. In this macabre farce, a Korean man is sentenced to death in Japan but survives his execution, sending the authorities into a panic about what to do next. At once disturbing and oddly amusing, Oshima’s constantly surprising film is a subversive and surreal indictment of both capital punishment and the treatment of Korean immigrants in his country.
– New 4K digital transfer, with uncompressed monaural soundtrack on the Blu-ray
– New interview with critic Tony Rayns
– New high-definition transfer of Nagisa Oshima’s 1965 short documentary Diary of Yunbogi
– Trailer
– New English subtitle translation
– PLUS: An essay by critic Howard Hampton
We’re pleased to present an exclusive new action clip (click here to watch) from Isaac Florentine’s Close Range, which is being released by XLrator Media on December 11th. If you’re wondering if Scott Adkins has what it takes to fill Van Damme’s shoes for Hard Target 2, the clip will definitely prove he’s the right guy for the job.
If you haven’t already done so, be sure to read Zach Nix’s review for Close Range, who says the film is proof that Florentine and Adkins are one of action cinema’s greatest director/actor duos currently working today.
XLrator Media will be releasing Close Range in Theaters on December 11th and on VOD and iTunes December 4th, followed by a Blu-ray and DVD release on January 5th.
AKA: Dust Up
Director: Isaac Florentine
Cast: Scott Adkins, Nick Chinlund, Caitlin Keats, Jake La Botz, Tony Perez, Madison Lawlor, Julien Cesario, Jimmy Chhiu, Ray Diaz, Robert Dill, Umar Khan
Runnging Time: 80 min.
By Zach Nix
Close Range is the latest collaboration between Israeli director Isaac Florentine (Undisputed 3: Redemption) and British action star Scott Adkins (Wolf Warrior). The two have previously worked together on Special Forces, Undisputed 2: Last Man Standing, The Shepherd, Ninja, Undisputed 3: Redemption, Ninja: Shadow of a Tear, and now Close Range, their latest direct to video action fest. While the two’s latest actioner is nowhere near as dramatically compelling as some of their previous efforts, the film continues to prove that Florentine directs and photographs action better than most commercial directors.
After Colton MacReady (Scott Adkins) rescues his niece from a drug cartel, he unleashes their fury when he accidentally takes a thumb drive containing crucial information about the cartel’s bank accounts and drug dealings. Colton soon finds himself and his sister’s family in danger as corrupt cops and the cartel descend upon their ranch in search of the stolen drive. The tension reaches a boil when Colton faces off against the cartel in order to rescue his captive sister’s family.
There’s no denying that Close Range features a rather simplistic plot to hinge its action packed proceedings upon. Therefore, the film is nowhere near as compelling as previous Florentine and Adkins collaborations that feature more interesting characters and intriguing mythos. However, the film still features the incredible trademark action that the two are known for, and that makes up for any simplicity in the film’s script. After all, many of the direct to video films released in the early to mid 2000s are notorious for their overly complex plots and dull action. Therefore, Close Range is utterly fantastic in contrast to early direct to video efforts.
Unfortunately, Close Range still suffers from a few direct to video trappings that many efforts of its genre succumb too. For example, the names of various locations are typed out on screen and accompanied by a silly digital sound effect. The film also features a baffling instance of on screen text in which every one of lead villain Fernando Garcia’s henchmen has their name typed out next to their face. No offense to Florentine or whoever decided to include these henchmen’s names on screen, but no viewer is likely to remember their names mere seconds later. There is no purpose in typing out the names of Adkin’s cannon fodder, as none of them are substantial characters anyways beyond Garcia or his nephew.
The film also features some mediocre acting, as many low budget action films do, as well as some shoddy stock music. A moment in which the police crash their car into Adkin’s vehicle is accompanied by music that one can hear on old episodes of Fear Factor. Fortunately, these are the only flaws holding down an otherwise non-stop action film.
Close Range is a fun genre effort in which Florentine sets his latest outing with Adkins in a neo-Western setting. The film makes for a fun contemporary Western with its desert ranch setting, plentiful cowboy cats, kidnap/revenge plot, and house face/off. The soundtrack also sports several guitar tunes that further establish the film’s Western genre influences. Florentine is cited on his IMDB page as wanting to become a filmmaker after seeing Sergio Leone’s The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly at a young age. In fact, Close Range’s final face off recalls the photography and editing of Leone’s infamous triangle face off, although Florentine’s work is a far cry from Leone’s. That being said, it’s clear that Florentine wanted to pay tribute to the genre that he loves by setting his latest actioner in a contemporary setting with strong Western elements.
Florentine’s eye for action is better than ever in Close Range. He treats audiences to two solid fistfights during the film’s first two acts, as well as some exciting gunplay. However, the pleasure in watching Close Range is reaching its finale in which Adkins goes head to head with the drug cartel on his family ranch in an all out action fest. The action on display in Close Range’s finale is better than many of the final action set pieces of any of this year’s theatrically released action films. Commercial Hollywood directors wish their action films ended as spectacularly as Close Range, a film that doesn’t mess around and gives action fans exactly what they want. The final house face off is filled with memorable kills, brutal brawls, and steady photography and editing that allows the viewer to visually comprehend all of Adkin’s punches and kicks. It’s only a matter of time until Hollywood gets a hold of Florentine and puts him at the helm of a major franchise or studio actioner in order to finally give him the budget and scale that he deserves to work with.
Close Range isn’t as memorable as Florentine and Adkins’ superior genre efforts. However, the film is still a solid action picture and proof that these two are one of action cinema’s greatest director/actor duos currently working today. If one can forgive the wafer thin plot and flat characters, than one will find immense joy in Close Range’s action packed proceedings. It’s a simple genre effort, but a badass one and proof that American action cinema currently reigns in the direct to video market, not on the big screen.
Director: Richard H. Kim
Producer: Bobby Kim
Cast: Bobby Kim, Michael Parker, H. Wayne Lowry, Marlena Shapiro, Michael Ford, Clif Willis, George W. Byers, Sheila Ivy Traister, Tony Carpenter
Running Time: 93 min.
By Paul Bramhall
In the 1980’s there was a sort of mini-wave of Korean directors who immigrated to the States. Park Woo-sang, the man behind such old school flicks like Shaolin: The Blood Mission, made the move and starting working under the name of Richard Park, making complete trash likeL.A. Streetfighters, Miami Connection, and American Chinatown. Lee Doo-yong, who directed everything from Bruce Lee Fights Back from the Grave, to influential classics such as The Last Witness, also made the move, and went on to direct such questionable efforts as the Linda Blair starring Silent Assassins.
Bobby Kim, while not a director, is a Taekwondo grandmaster and had briefly enjoyed a spell as an action star in Korea. Bearing a striking resemblance to Charles Bronson, he quickly got dubbed as the Asian version of the Death Wish star. Active just for a few years between 1975 – 1979, he cranked out a total of 9 movies, some of which even got picked up by the infamous IFD Films for international distribution, such as Mad for Vengeance. Then he moved to Colorado, where he settled and opened up a Taekwondo school, while still finding the time to occasionally make a movie.
Perhaps his most famous movie outside of his Korean work is Manchurian Avenger, an East meets West western which had Kim facing off against Bill ‘Superfoot’ Wallace. Made in 1985, it was the same year that Wallace would also face off against Jackie Chan in The Protector, and it makes for an interesting comparison to watch the fight scenes of both movies side by side. In Manchurian Avenger Kim plays a character called Joe, who returns to Colorado (very convenient) after a long absence. Four years later, in 1989 Kim would star in Kill Line, a movie in which he plays a character called Joe, who returns to Colorado after a long absence. There’s definitely something going on here.
While Kill Line was completed in 1989, it wouldn’t be released until a couple of years later. Kim is actually listed twice in the credits under different names – in the cast list he’s credited as Bobby Kim, however he’s also the producer, against which he’s listed as Robert H. Kim. To make things a little more confusing, the movie is written and directed by Richard H. Kim. Kill Line is literally the only movie credited to the mysterious Richard H. Kim, no matter how hard you scour the internet, the guy is a 1-movie ghost. Is it another alias for Bobby Kim? It’s a question worth pondering, as if I was the director of Kill Line I’d probably want to change my name as well.
As previously mentioned, Bobby Kim returns to small town Colorado after a long absence, however once there he finds himself endlessly hassled and abused by the town sheriff. If any of this sounds familiar, it’s probably because you’ve seen First Blood, Richard H. Kim definitely has. Bobby hasn’t returned from the Vietnam War though, he’s just wrapped up a 10 year prison sentence. It turns out he was present at the deathbed of a dying man, along with a vicar, the director of a charity organization, and a doctor. The dying man reveals he has 2 million dollars hidden in his house, and that it must go to the “Center for the Less Fortunate in New York”.
Of course, the characters greed gets in the way. Kim is entrusted with delivering the money which is packed into a briefcase, however he himself is no angel, and instead decides to give it to his hard up brother. When the brother refuses to take it, he throws the briefcase off the table causing it to break open, which reveals that there’s nothing inside except torn up newspaper. As the camera focuses in on the newspaper strewn across the floor, we hear a judge deliver in voiceover that Kim has been sentenced to 10 years in prison. What exactly is he guilty of? Well, that’s never explained, but perhaps in Colorado carrying around torn up newspaper in a briefcase is considered a serious crime.
Kill Line has so many mistakes in it that, if you were to play a drinking game, you’d be drunk within the first 15 minutes. The quivering shadow of a boom mic is in plain sight on the side of a van two characters are talking next to, a dialing tone is used as a phone ringing, and there are bizarre nonsensical lines like, “I’m going to ask you one last time, you’re not going to send this money back!” So, what’s the question!? There’s also a pursuit at night involving a car, in which you can see literally nothing except the cars headlights, and in a latter chase scene a car flies off the road into a lake, however the cameraman misses the shot, so the actual impact happens just off-screen.
It quickly becomes apparent that Kill Line was a one take only production, and it hurts it beyond redemption. The brightest part is actually a pre-credit sequence, which sees the family of Bobby’s brother shot to death inside their own home. There’s a machine gun and a shotgun involved, however once the characters start firing them it looks more like the guns are in control of the actors, as they struggle to control where they’re firing. It’s supposed to be a harrowing scene, but the amateur nature of it makes it laughable.
Special mention also has to go to a unique scene which makes a part of a bigger car chase sequence. In one part the sheriffs car is nudged, which sends it careening towards the windows of a car dealership. The camera then cuts to a shot taken from inside the dealership, which shows the car hurtling towards the window in slow motion. However before the impact, the camera suddenly cuts away again, this time back to the outside, and the car that was about to go smashing through the glass lightly drives into a wall instead. I was convinced it was because they couldn’t afford to break the glass, however hilariously, the sheriff then gets out, smashes one of the windows with his baton, before jumping into one of the dealership cars, and drives through the glass from inside the dealership. The whole scene doesn’t make a lick of sense.
It’s a shame, because Bobby Kim does have a certain amount of charisma. His character is the type of guy who calmly smokes a cigarette while knocking back glasses of Jack Daniels, and he has that kind of cool exterior that you know hides something more, the kind that Steven Seagal had in his early movies. There’s even a fight in a billiards bar, in a scene that Seagal would go on to perfect in Out for Justice, released the same year.
Despite what Kim has to go up against though, what minimal fight action there is in Kill Line is of a very poor quality. The fact that he’s the only martial artist in the cast no doubt has a lot to do with it, but even that can’t forgive the limp wristed nature of them. There’s a real sense of being careful not to hit anyone for real, with punches and kicks thrown at the speed of a snail. Often there’s a visible hesitation before throwing them, and it’s all shot in such a way that nobody comes out looking good.
While Bobby Kim can never be considered to be in the same screen fighting league as his Korean peers like Hwang Jang Lee and Casanova Wong, Kill Line is definitely not representative of what he can do. To appreciate him in action the way he should be seen, it probably goes without saying that it’s best to stick to his 70’s Korean output. For Kill Line though, I’ll end this review in the style that the movie is written, and that’s by asking you a question – don’t bother watching this movie.
Olive Films presents the Blu-ray & DVD for Hana-Dama: The Origin. At turns poetic and brutal, Hana-Dama: The Origin is an entertaining blood-soaked tale of vengeance that pays homage to both Carrie and Heathers.
From the wild imagination of director Sato Hisayasu (Splatter: Naked Blood), one of a group of directors known as the “Four Devils” (who made their mark in the softcore “pink” film genre in the late 1980’s), comes a twisted tale of revenge via plant life in the terrifying Hana-Dama: The Origin, which will be hitting Blu-ray from Olive Films on January 19th, 2016.
Bullied Japanese high school student Mizuki (Sakuragi Rina, Girl’s Blood) has the ultimate revenge on her teenage tormentors in this horror-fest tinged with dark humor.
Possessed by a powerful spirit, Mizuki sprouts a mysterious flower from her head which empowers her with deadly skills to exact revenge, with bloody consequences, against the bullying classmates led by mean girl Aya (Nakamura Eriko, August In Tokyo).
Hana-Dama: The Origin features supporting performances by Shimamura Maika, Fujiwara Kei and Asada Shun.
Special Features:
– Backstage and Behind the Scenes Featurette
– Interview with the Cast and the Director of Hana-Dama: The Origin
The film is currently available for pre-order. Until then, don’t miss the film’s trailer!
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